A controversial black political activist has sparked outrage in Tampa, Florida by standing on a busy downtown street displaying a sign instructing “homeless n*ggers” to go “back to Africa”.

The sign was spotted by a Tampa resident and posted on Twitter where it quickly racked up thousands of retweets and responses.

But, it turns out that the man in question has made a bit of a career out of his inflammatory ‘activism’ in the Tampa area.

Twitter users responded to the tweet identifying the man as 60-year-old Tony Daniel, who is a familiar face at Tampa City Council meetings where he has been criticized for using vulgar and profane language in his presentations.

According to local reporting, Daniel has been arrested and removed from public meetings on numerous occasions since the mid-1990s when he began his crusade against the city.

In March this year, council members amended their rules to place restrictions on vulgar and threatening speech, including personal attacks against city officials and members of the public — but said that Daniel wasn’t the reason the rules were changed.

In his spare time, Daniel has been known to drive around the city in a pickup truck displaying a Nazi flag, a Confederate flag, a photograph of a lynching and numerous uses of the word “n*gger”, according to local media.

He has also been involved in a long-running dispute with the city over expansions made to a home in east Tampa which is believed to be owned by his daughter, resulting in nearly $ 2 million in fines. Local officials say the necessary permits were not obtained for the expansion.

More cryptically, Daniel also seems to have a big problem with Home Depot, displaying references to the home and hardware store on the back of his truck — but no one seems to know why.

“We’ve tried reasoning with him to understand what his concern is with the company, but to no avail,” a spokesperson for Home Depot told the Tampa Bay Times.